1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the publication and distribution of electronic reading materials, and to a method and apparatus for viewing electronic reading materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic reading materials are commonly available on various on-line computer services, such as America On Line, Compuserve, the Internet and the World Wide Web. These materials are typically in the public domain, as there is no accepted method for distribution that maintains the integrity of copyrighted materials. This is due in part to the ease with which the recipient of the documents can redistribute them at no cost to potentially thousands of other subscribers, with no accounting for the royalties that are due to the copyright holder.
Although it is a simple process for on-line subscribers to download these materials to their computer using a telephone line modem or other communication system, it is not practical for multiple-page documents to be read while sitting at a computer terminal.
Accordingly, there is a need in the technology for a system for retaining a library of publications and for selectively loading these publications into a portable viewer with non-volatile memory storage. There is also a need in the technology for providing a secure communications system that permits downloading of copyrighted materials without concern for their proliferation through present on-line services.